Home Entertainment: ’Willy’s Wonderland’ digital review

Over the years, actor Nicolas Cage has garnered a reputation for being one of the most intriguing actors. His career has seen him flit from award nominated, and winning films, to high-concept action, family adventure, crazy indies, and films that are just plain terrible. No other actor seems to be able to traverse the tightrope of hit and miss, consistently making movies that fall within each category, whilst never losing his audience. Most only have to see Cage’s name on the billing block for a film, and will watch it regardless of its quality; in fact for some, the more insane one of his film’s sounds, the more appealing it is. This project, Willy’s Wonderland, will no doubt appeal to the masses as it puts a fist-fighting Cage against a band of possessed animatronic robots. 

The plot is similar to the game Five Nights at Freddy’s, although Cage just has to last one night. In Willy’s Wonderland, Cage plays a character credited simply as ‘The Janitor’, a stranger who finds himself in trouble after his car breaks down. With no method of payment, the man is offered a simple exchange – if he cleans the town’s disused fast-food restaurant and kid’s party venue overnight, the fee for fixing the car will be waived. What the man is not told however, is that the animatronic residents of the restaurant ‘Willy’s Wonderland’ have minds of their own, minds with murderous intentions. Can he battle his way till morning, or will he become yet another victim of the weird establishment?

A key thing to mention is that Cage’s performance is essentially mute. There’s nothing in the script that says, or points to, the character being mute for any medical or psychological reason, he’s merely the textbook definition of the strong silent type. Initially his lack of speech is jarring, Cage has made a career out of playing wordsmiths and plenty of iconic film quotes were first uttered by him (not the bees! – anyone?). Therefore, seeing him without hearing him takes some getting used to. Luckily, Cage has always been an actor that uses the full scope of his body and range of motion to articulate his characters, so even whilst silent, he still visibly gives it his all. 

With Cage’s character silent, it is left to the townsfolk to explain exactly what is going on, and boy do these townsfolk love to chatter. Thanks to various characters, the backstory is filled in via several exposition heavy flashback sequences. The information is welcome, but some of the sequences are a little clunky and bloated. The dialogue and script is as bananas as is required of such a zany action horror. All the monstrous robotic creatures spout silly quips like, “I’m gonna feast on your face”, which will really please the horror hounds. There’s also plenty of dramatic irony to lines, with one character sign-posting their death whilst making threats against Cage. 

Visually, director Kevin Lewis certainly has an idea of a mood and style that he wants to create. This mood seems to feature A LOT of lens flare, flaring to the point of obscuring elements of the film, and bathing the images in a rainbow prism of light. The visual device is even carried through into the end credits, which instead of standard black, have an iridescent glow to them. Outside of lens flare, Willy’s Wonderland lends itself to nostalgia fans, the decrepit nature of the restaurant allowing throwbacks to things from another time. The inclusion of a pinball machine – with which Cage happily thrusts (and dance breaks) alongside – conjures memories of older and more family friendly times. Juxtaposing these childhood elements against brutal violence somehow creates a cartoonish, almost jovial, vibe to the piece that entertains enough to cover scripting issues. 

It was only a couple of years back that Danishka Esterhazy attempted a similar film with The Banana Splits Movie. That, of course, took beloved real-life characters from childhood and gave them a murderous spin. Here Lewis has to generate that same feeling with new characters, and it proves to be a bit of a struggle. With so many baddies, it’s hard to fully differentiate most of them, and the production values vary from creature to creature. One doll-like robot is so obviously a woman in a mask that it’s laughable, the budget clearly being spent on some of the more eye-catching villains. Were there to be more of an onus of quality rather than quantity, the group would be much more cohesive and entertaining to watch dismember and eventually get dismantled. 

By snagging Nicolas Cage, Kevin Lewis has a guaranteed captive audience. Happily, he also injects Willy’s Wonderland with enough bold and brash silliness to sustain a satisfactory level of viewer enjoyment. 

Signature Entertainment Presents Willy’s Wonderland Home Premiere on Digital Platforms 12th February.

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